GOALS

Professional Learning

Plan and teach a series of Maths lessons that encourage students to use strategies that are appropriately challenging for year 4-5 learners.

Become confident at aligning my maths lessons with content from Level 2 and 3 of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Design maths lessons that reflect the interests and learning needs of ākonga.
Reflect on my maths planning and teaching lessons and seek feedback from my AT
Use formative assessment strategies in my maths lesson to monitor ākonga learning progress and to guide planning.

Weekly Plan To Meet Professional Learning

Week 1

Observations of teaching AT’s Maths lessons
Take notes of AT’s lesson using different pedagogies and how ākonga respond to the different approaches
Building relationships with ākonga, understand class routines, familiarise with the area they are currently focussing on
Seek information about ākonga interests, cultures, strengths and needs in planning lessons

Reflection

This week , my main focus was to build relationships with ākonga. My associate teacher was away for the first two days and I found ample of opportunities to make connections with ākonga like greeting them in the morning, knowing about their interests, calling out their names and making sure that I am pronouncing them all right, what they like been to school. The students were also curious in knowing about my family, culture, food and sharing about themselves. My AT had discussed about an ADHD child in the classroom before practicum and I was aware that relationships plays a vital role to support his learning (McLaughlin, Aspden, & McLachlan, 2015). During break times, I chat with him knowing about his interests and other things which was very interesting. I could not find so difficult in terms of establishing myself in the teachers role. Before practicum, I had a schools visit before practicum, where I got the opportunity to introduce myself to ākonga and kaiako. I felt comfortable being a part of the Glen Eden family. The children were responding very well to me, and I felt more confident in my ability to form positive relationships. Along with, I played the role of observer and tried to understand the classroom routines. however, The first two days I didn't understand much but tried to be with children more since I am going to spend a long time with them. After these two days, i did observe my associate teacher doing morning routines, waiata, reading school notices , explaining the schedule of the day. Even, I did observations of ATs Maths group lessons using different pedagogical approaches based upon the topics of discussion. In addition, observing kaiako doing activities such as transitions, instructions, asking questions, student response, clarifying answers as rapid events of a day (Borich, G.D., 2003). On Friday, I sat down with my AT to understand the planning of Maths group lessons. Like mentioned by Curwen (2017), we discussed about ākonga strengths, needs and capabilities when they participate in a group. She advised me to look in to different stages of New Zealand curriculum Maths books and numeracy project Book5 (Ministry of Education, 2009) for the planning process. Even, I gather information about children’s background, language, ESOl, what strategies kaiako use to support special needs students, and socio-economic conditions. I came to know about the equal opportunities for learning for all ākonga in the classroom.

Observations and note taking of ATs Maths lessons. Discuss group planning for next week (Week Waru)

Week 2

Continue doing observations of ATs Maths lessons to see how she uses different strategies such as rounding and compensating.

Plan and teach a series of two-three Maths lessons to support ākonga groups in understanding how to use place value strategies to solve problems.

Discuss with AT ākonga strengths and learning needs for the next math lesson as part of using formative assessment.

Reflection

This week, I am expanding my knowledge of the Maths curriculum by continue observing my associate teacher's lessons in groups. I am taking notes of lessons in using the strategies like rounding and compensating and also reading the course content to develop a proper understanding in teaching ākonga of this age group. Along with this, I teach groups of lessons the whole week focusing on different topics like addition, subtraction, place value, and decimal fractions. To view the planning click here. Reflecting on this, I found a little challenging for me (Brown, 1995), since I studied in India which is different from the New Zealand curriculum. As mentioned by Van de Walle (2019), I perceived that I have to develop my confidence in teaching the right strategy and keeping in mind which strategy will be efficient in solving problems. Therefore, I read my course work again, watch YouTube videos, and tried to work out the strategies by myself to connect the curriculum with practice. In alignment with this, I would like to draw my attention in teaching place value, where I have to learn and understand the 'object construction' method in explaining 10 tens makes one hundred to ākonga (Averill & Harvey, 2010). However, after I teach a couple of lessons on Monday, I asked my associate teacher what I could improve for the next lessons to get more prepared for the rest of the week and received suggestions like having the books ready, giving proper instructions on what ākonga are expected to do, and time management. In addition, working with this age group is very new to me, I felt a bit overwhelmed to cope with so many things going around at the same time such as the rapidity of lessons, transitions, and responding to students at the same time as mentioned by Borich (2003). I tried to be patient and took the opportunity to discuss with my associate teacher before and after school hours about strategies, getting more understanding of groups learning needs and strengths like revisiting the problems again if ākonga might not do well in performing the tasks for planning and teaching future lessons.

Here I am teaching place value strategies in solving problems

Observations and note taking of ATs Maths lessons.

Checking ākonga work as part of formative assessment

Here I am practicing place value strategies before teaching ākonga

Week 3

Look at how the books my school uses align with NZMaths Curriculum elaborations.
Collect samples of ākonga work and discuss these with my AT to identify learning strengths, misconceptions, and learning needs that can be addressed in future lessons.
Discuss mathematics testing at my school and how this is used.
Teach a series of lessons that focus on solving fraction and ratio problems

Reflection

This week my AT and I discussed taking the opportunity of teaching two groups to help myself in developing confidence, and apply my knowledge of the subject. My school uses Number Book 5 and 7 along with New Zealand curriculum mathematics books. I started to use these books and looked into NZ Maths curriculum elaborations to get familiar with the topics and strategies for ratio and fraction problems. My associate teacher advised me to look into levels 2 and 3 for planning and teaching specific problems and activities (https://nzmaths.co.nz/). After I had my first session, I can assess what I could improve for the next lessons, such as being better prepared for activities for the rest of the class while I am teaching a group. Reflecting on this, sometimes I found ākonga was able to finish the tasks like study ladder, and prodigy early which hinder my focus on the group I am teaching. I discussed this with my AT and she advised me to give more practice questions on board, basic facts sheets, and be clear with the instructions which are important for class management. Along with this, she assessed my lesson on Monday, and Tuesday and discussed the feedback at the end of the day. She suggested strategies to look into children's textbooks to develop an understanding of whether they have understood the concept, choosing the problem which suits their interests and making links to their prior knowledge (Hunter et al., 2003), or might they need more support in reading a problem, working with diagrams or materials to work on with a specific strategy(Averill & Harvey, 2010). I implemented these strategies to the best of my ability for the rest of the week. I used this past week to help prepare me for my five days of sustained teaching which will be happening next week.

These are the evidence where I am teaching group lessons and giving group tasks

Here I am checking ākonga work as part of a formative assessment to understand their learning needs and abilities.

Week 4

Discuss Maths planning templates with my AT. Revisit Maths templates from Stream to compare these.

Consider doing a full class warm-up to support ākonga in their learning

Revisit lesson to assess student learning. Discuss with AT what they could do, and identify their next learning steps as part of the formative assessment

Plan and teach a series of lessons on different topics- Add/Sub, Ratio, and Fraction based on individual learner needs

Reflection

This week I took my full control of responsibility and began planning and taking five Maths group lessons. Before my teaching, I and my AT discussed for planning group lessons. We communicate things like revisiting the same lesson for providing more support in their learning. She suggested me to look into NZ Maths planning sheets to help with teaching specific problems, activities, and teaching resources or materials. For some of the groups, we decided to keep them with the same learning intention while for the others to focus on different topics. On the first day of teaching, I understood that classroom management, scanning the room skills keeping myself calm play a major role to stay focused on teaching with a group (Borich, 2003). To support me with this, my AT sometimes jumped in by taking away class money rewards to maintain a peaceful classroom environment. With the heavy workload of teaching so many groups, I do make sure to keep my lesson plans available to me and do my homework to support myself in learning and teaching the strategies (Van de Walle, 2019). I do get confused that one problem can be taught using different strategies why there is no one-way method to make it simple for me and for the students as well? However, as I am progressing, I recognized that in teaching a diverse group I need to be ready with strategies like drawings, diagrams, imaging, examples, and explanation to help students in their learning (Hunter & Hunter, 2018). Also, I perceived that to have a warm-up session in the morning which I am considering to do in the next term to help students get ready for the day and activities. Nevertheless, as part of the formative assessment, my AT has not started with her spotlight testing but we managed to do a pre test with students to help for term 4 planning. Inspite, I continue checking ākonga work by giving constructive feedback to gain insight into the next steps for my planning and teaching.

These are the evidence where I am teaching group lessons and giving group tasks

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Week 5

Plan and teach a series of full class lessons on coordinates
Plan different mapping activities such as writing instructions to get to and from a particular place, writing coordinates of places
Checking ākonga work. discuss these with AT to identify learners' strengths in planning the next lesson.
Reflect on my teaching lessons and receive feedback for better improvement Reflection

I took the opportunity for another week in full control of responsibility. My AT advised me to choose coordinates as the topic for teaching whole class lessons. Before the holidays, I managed to discuss my plan of putting my connected curriculum planning into teaching. We decide to a day meet during the term break to discuss the planning. I started to look for resources, planning sheets, and activities in NZ Maths to develop an in-depth understanding of the focus topic. Also, I look into schools' long-term planning, worksheets, and problems in the textbook to decide for follow on activities for ākonga to get hold of the concept. I found varied activities like mapping activities, giving instructions, and writing coordinates of local places on the map. With all this information, I discussed my 5 days of planning to cover the topic coordinates. Next, I plan a series of lessons putting all the information such as WALT, success criteria, resources , activities, formative assessment, and launch plan to provide detailed information. However, it was quite challenging to plan the follow on activities since I need to keep in my mind different learners' capabilities and strengths. My AT suggested a couple of different activities add to my planning to keep ākonga engaged and if some of them finished earlier and they have nothing to do. I believe that detailed lesson planning helps while teaching. With the heavy workload of teaching so many groups, I do make sure to keep my lesson plans available to me and do my homework to support myself in learning and teaching the strategies (Van de Walle, 2019). I always keep my planning open during delivering lessons to go with the proper flow and sometimes if I forget any important thing. My first day of teaching went well. I perceived by checking notebooks that ākonga did very well with the activity and my AT told me this shows that they have understood the concept. I was happy to look into the target learners' books who did very well in the activity. However, after my first day of teaching, I understood that I need to work more on transitions, and clear instructions to create a better classroom environment (Borich, 2003). To support me with this, my AT suggested I wait for children not to talk over me and give me eye contact so that they understand what are the expectations from them and keep the 5-minute timer during transitions. I keep in mind all this advice for my learning as well as for the appraiser's observations. Also, I found that there should be always a backup plan with different strategies, explanation explanations, and examples for teaching a diverse group of learners and supporting them with their learning needs (Hunter & Hunter, 2018). Nevertheless, as part of the formative assessment, I continue checking ākonga work by giving feedback and comments for them to look at what they need to be doing as the next steps. I even discuss with AT changing anything in the planning like revisiting the same lesson, and worksheets for students' better learning opportunities.

These are the evidence where I am teaching whole class lessons on Coordinates

These are samples of ākonga work doing various activities on coordinates

Week 6

Revisit a series of full class lessons on coordinates to get hold of the concept
Plan different activities such as finding ordered pairs on a graph, locating coordinates, giving and follow directions north, south, east, west, and northeast, etc.
Checking ākonga work to identify how much they got hold of the concept
Consider how to make the Maths problems accessible for students working at Level 2 and Level 3 of the curriculum.

Reflection

This week was a shorter one where I teach for only 3 days. My associate teacher asked me to revisit the lessons on coordinates for ākonga to get hold of the concept. I understand it would be good to consider planning the kind of activities that caters to the needs of students working at Level 2 and Level 3 of the curriculum. I look into NZ Maths Curriculum Elaborations to develop a strong idea of the learning trajectory of students across levels. I planned different tasks like mapping activities, finding places using directional words, and pointing coordinates on a city map along with some exercise questions from the textbook to allow varied opportunities for ākonga to understand the concept. I develop insight from my appraisal's feedback that it is important to plan low floor high ceiling tasks to ensure that Level 2 and Level 3 students would be able to carry out the tasks (Van de Walle,2019). During teaching the lessons, I used the questioning, think-pair-share strategy, and representations diagrams to allow ākonga to revisit their prior knowledge helping them do the tasks (Averill &Harvey, 2010). I also sit with some of the group learners on the mat using the same strategy to help them practice the compass directions or plotting coordinates on the map to support their learning (Boaler & Staples, 2008). Nevertheless, checking ākonga work helps in identifying the next steps and adapting likewise to support students' future learning (Graham et al., 2015).

These are the evidence of revisit lessons on Coordinates

Week 7

Doing observations of ATs Maths lessons of how she uses additive multiplicative strategies word rules, and graphs to find the repeating and sequential patterns
Support ākonga individually in creating their strategies, and rules such as number patterns, add-on counting, or diagrams to solve the problems

Reflection

This week for my professional learning goal, I have observed my associate teacher's lessons on finding repeating and sequential patterns. I found how she teaches the use of multiplicative and additive strategies using words, diagrams, and symbols. I was aware since there are diverse learners she has group ākonga based on their learning capabilities and needs. While teaching she uses a specific strategy for teaching a particular group to support ākonga for conceptual understanding. I manages to do a few of the observations although most of the time I helped ākonga in completing their follow on activities. I tried to help each learner read the problem, asking questions, about what strategies they can think of in solving a particular problem (Van de Walle, 2019).In addition, I separately sit with a group of ākonga providing them extra support with their learning in solving the same problem. I tried to ask them what strategies they have learned that can be used in solving this problem. I allow them to think of number patterns, adding on, or diagrams they have learned with Mrs. Hogan. After listening to their responses, I tried to extend their prior knowledge by asking questions allowing them to figure out what kind of strategies they can use in solving a particular problem. I need to make sure to expand their knowledge of what they have already learned with my AT, building the learning based on their prior knowledge to help them make connections across the different strategies (Averill & Harvey, 2010).

Here ākonga are trying out diagrams and number patterns strategy in solving the pratterns

Reference List for Weekly Reflections

Averill, R., & Harvey, R. (2010). Teaching Primary School Mathematics and Statistics: Evidence-Based Practice. New Zealand Council for Educational Research. PO Box 3237, Wellington 6140 New Zealand.

Borich G. D. (2003). Observation Skills for Effective Teaching (4th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Brown, S. (2004). Shared reading for grades 3 and beyond. Wellington: Learning Media. (pp.75-88).

Curwen, R. (2017). A Strength-based approach to develop Pasifika students' cultural identities and mathematical dispositions: a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.

Graham, S., Hebert, M., & Harris, K. R. (2015). Formative assessment and writing: A meta-analysis. The Elementary School Journal, 115(4), 523-547.

Hunter, R., Hunter, J., Anthony, G., & McChesney, K. (2018). Developing mathematical inquiry communities: Enacting culturally responsive, culturally sustaining, ambitious mathematics teaching. Set: Research Information for Teachers, (2), 25.

McLaughlin, T., Aspden, K., & McLachlan, C. (2015). How do teachers build strong relationships? A study of teaching practices to support child learning and social-emotional competence. Early Childhood Folio, 19(1), 31–38.

Ministry of Education. (2009). Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories in the New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Van, de Walle, John A., and Karen S. Karp. Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally, Global Edition, Pearson Education Limited, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Teaching

Plan, teach and evaluate a series of writing lessons that are based around topics and genres that reflect ākonga interests

Design and teach sequenced lessons of Writing based on topics that reflect the interests of ākonga
Discuss with AT for planning and teaching writing lessons that targets learning needs of Year 4-5 ākonga
Reflect on my lessons for future improvement, seek feedback from my AT
Use formative assessment strategies to monitor ākonga learning progress and to guide writing planning

Reflection

Throughout the first week, I closely observed my associate teachers' writing lessons. I noticed about how she uses modelling strategy to launch genres for describing or narrating a short story. I took notes of how kaiako uses different pedagogical approaches while delivering lessons. Additionally, I perceived that kaiako uses 'mind map' as the modelling approach in planning ,shaping and structuring the text by prompting questions to encourage the ideas and contributions of all the students (Tompkins, 2019).The process goes from shared writing to guided writing where ākonga learnt to scribe down their own ideas from what they have learnt as teacher provide the model to them (TKI, 2000).I found this a bit challenging since I haven't got the opportunity to discuss with my AT regarding the current writing topics of teaching, learning intentions and success criteria chosen since she was been away for couple of days. On the other hand, I was able to understand the teaching strategies of kaiako since I have learnt and practice them in my previous practicum. Nevertheless, to work towards my goal of teaching, I am aware to seek information about writing topics, students writing learning needs , strengths and capabilities to plan and teach future lessons (Edward & Douglas, 1998).

Weekly Plan To Meet Teaching

Week 1

Carry out observations of my AT’s Writing lessons to see how she introduces writing genres and topics.
Take notes of AT’s lesson using different pedagogies in writing lessons, and how ākonga respond to these approaches
Build relationships with ākonga and familiarise myself with class writing routines
Discuss with AT current focus of writing lessons and what writing genres are being taught in the future.
Seek information about ākonga interests, cultures, strengths, and needs that I could use in my writing planning.

Observations and note taking of ATs Writing lessons.

Week 2

Find out about writing progressions used by the school and familiarise myself with year 4 and 5 learning goals within these.
Observe how my AT Launches a writing task, and how she uses teacher modeling to help students throughout the week.
Discuss Learning Intentions and Success Criteria in AT's writing planning and find out how these were selected.
Use my ATs planning to teach some parts of the writing lessons this week. Focus on using teacher modeling and SC while teaching these.
Discuss with AT about ākonga strengths and learning needs in writing.

Reflection

This week, I have been focusing on my associate teacher's lessons on how she uses the modeling approach (Batt and Frenchman,2010), to guide the process of writing. I observed a couple of lessons and my associate teacher launched the 'writing short stories' topic explaining the purpose, learning intention, and success criteria to students (Clarke, 2003), She use the think-pair-share strategy and shared back in scribing down ākonga responses (Tompkins et al,2019). Likewise Loane (2017), I perceived that it is important to provide the proper writing framework for tamariki to be responsive in the process of writing. However, students were finding it a bit difficult to organize the text, and choose the proper vocabulary which is important for the readers (target audience). I continued the topic by checking their prior knowledge (Brown, 2004), of describing and designing the characters and setting of their story. I use the model writing approach to help ākonga for developing ideas in writing the beginning, middle, and end of the story (SC). Nevertheless, my associate teacher discussed with me that story writing is not working so well with some of the students. So, she decided to move to persuasive writing to develop students' interest in writing. We found that ākonga enjoyed the activity and they were able in organizing ideas and information, and use sentence structures, and diagrams to convey meaning in the text to meet the purpose of writing (The literacy learning progressions, Ministry of Education, 2010). In addition, my associate teacher explain to me it is important to choose topics to cater to students' interest in achieving the desired learning outcomes. Hence, she advised me to get familiar with the writing progressions document to understand students' stages of progression.

Observations of ATs writing lessons- Launch part, use of modeling approach in recording ākonga responses

Here I am teaching a writing lesson using modelling approach

Ākonga work samples of my writing lesson

Week 3

Work with my AT to collaboratively plan a week of writing lessons. Observe/discuss how she selects aspects such as genres, topics, and Learning Intentions/Success Criteria.
Teach some of the writing lessons planned for this week with a focus on launching a new writing topic, teacher modeling, and using Success Criteria
Carry out a formative assessment at the end of a writing lesson by looking at 5 pieces of student writing from a range of levels to see what they can do well, and what they need to learn next in writing.
Reflect on my teaching practices in writing and identify strengths and areas for improvement

Reflection

This week I continue doing observations of my ATs poem writing lessons. She chose metaphor and similes as success criteria for the lessons. Along with this, she provided a framework (model) for children to be responsive in the process of writing as mentioned by Batt and Frenchman, (2010). I found she explained some of the high-frequency words to students and asks them if we can use any other words to convey the same meaning. This way students could develop and clarify the ideas to enrich their vocabulary. (Loane, 2019). I took the opportunity to support a group of target students helping them in their writing. I used the same approach of asking questions (Chin, 2006), taking some ideas from the model to help them create their writing piece. In addition, I took a full class writing lesson near the end of the week with a different topic using the same learning intention of describing. I thought describing me would be a good topic for them to write since I have spent a good time with them. I could also see them being very inspired to begin writing. Reflecting on this, the lesson was quite okay because it is important to provide a model framework to students to support them in bringing different ideas. However, I tried to model a full paragraph on board using ākonga ideas, and the student engagement level was quite good. My AT stressed to me that the learning intervention should be precise and significant and success criteria are like step-by-step points for children to achieve so it is important not to get these two things mixed up as it is important to share correctly for ākonga to understand clearly (Clarke, 2003). However, as part of more formative assessment I looked at writing samples of tamariki from a range of target to achievable learners. With the target students, my At asked me to support them by always sitting at your table because most of them need help in spelling words, chunking them into sounds. While a few good ones need to understand using different sentence starters to make their writing interesting. These are all great feedback for next time I did the writing in my sustained week of teaching.

One of my writing lessons using different topic and samples of tamariki work after the lesson.

Heading 5

Here I am helping my target learners and showing evidence of a child writing sample

My Ats lesson using modeled writing approach and different learning interntion

Week 4

Plan a series of writing lessons using descriptive, persuasive, and letter writing approaches with different learning intentions and success criteria
Plan and teach a series of writing lessons with the focus on launching the lesson modeling, purpose, and audience
Getting feedback from ākonga for their writing about what they like about the topic they wrote about
Discuss with AT -areas of improvement, receive feedback and suggestions for future lessons

Reflection

This week was my full control responsibility for planning and teaching full class lessons. Since I am working on genres writing topics so I decided to choose narrative, letter, and persuasive writing approaches to allow opportunities for ākonga to experience and learn the different writing styles. What I have learned from my previous lessons and Ats feedback is that it is good to choose the topics which suit and develop students' interest in writing. My first lesson did not go so well. Reflecting on this, I realized that transition from one area to another plays a very big role for students to stay focused and engaged (Borich, 2003). I perceived that tamariki were sounding very low/tired and it made me think that jumping straight from Maths to writing lowers the student's engagement. I believed that three should be a warm-up session before writing to support better learning. My AT advised me launching a lesson is sometimes hard, especially on Mondays She stressed to me the importance of a successful and effective launch as being crucial to ensuring successful writing from ākonga. Also, she advised me to always pre-write a Model putting some high vocabulary and discussing with students for example what can be another word for tremendously'. This way students will start developing ideas and enriching vocabulary (Tompkins et al, 2019). Also, doing a 'think pair share( Edward- Groves, 2014), is a great approach that speeds up the process of listening to their ideas and sharing back in a wider ropu. These are very good suggestions to help me for the rest of the week of my teaching. My AT support me in creating the model before the writing sessions which was very good for my sessions to go in good flow. Likewise, Batt and Frenchman (2010), I recognized that providing a model is very necessary to support children in their independent writing process. This week I learned that the planning you complete for lessons guides what you and how you teach, but it cannot give you full control of how the lesson goes, and unpredictability may arise. Nevertheless, I tried to have an open classroom discussion to know about the children's interests. what they like in their writing for the topic they already wrote, the topics they want to write. I have found this useful to plan likewise for future lessons to achieve students' desired learning outcomes (Edward & Douglas, 1998).

Evidences of my writing lessons and doing formative assessment to know ākonga needs

Week 5

Plan a series of lessons on writing information reports with learning intentions and success criteria that respond to students' needs
Plan and teach a series of writing lessons using mentor text for launch plan, modeling, purpose, and audience
Decide on writing topics for planning and teaching based on ākonga interests
Reading some of the student's work samples, giving feedback

Reflection

I took the opportunity for another week in full control of responsibility. As I am focusing on genre writing, my AT advised me to choose information report writing approaches to allow opportunities for ākonga to experience and learn the different writing styles. I discussed with me AT incorporating my connected curriculum into teaching. During the term break, I communicate with her about choosing places as my theme, moving from nearby places in our Kura to places in New Zealand. Also, approaching the report writing lessons with a different learning intention and success criteria. I plan to use mentor text for launching my lesson as well as modeling ākonga ideas onto the whiteboard (Loane, 2017). My AT advised me that students need time to research a place, then draft their reports followed by publishing them. She supported me with my mentor's text like editing them to make them better. I perceived that I need to work more on model writing so that they should be without any errors since ākonga will take some ideas during their independent writing process (Tompkins et al, 2019). I was a bit nervous since I was aware from my last week of teaching that ākonga felt a bit tired straight after the Maths lesson (Brown, 1995). Critically reflecting on this, I decided to do a warm-up session to help tamariki refresh themselves and charge their brains for the writing lesson and even to have a proper transition from one area to the other (Borich, 2003). When I did my first-day lesson, I understand that it is important to break the report writing into parts and focusing focus on one thing like writing an introduction for one session only and then moving to another aspect (body paragraphs) for the next day followed by writing a conclusion. Along with this, using the think-pair-share strategy to support ākonga in clarifying thinking, sharing back ideas for the teacher to model on the whiteboard. I changed my plan to focus on writing about a particular place that is significant to children and continued for the whole week. However, when I checked ākonga work I recognized the change in plan worked well and students were able to get hold of the concept. As part of the formative assessment, I read some of the ākonga draft reports and also used proximal praise in the class for other students to support, build confidence in the plan, and revise or edit their ideas What I have learned from this experience it is important to change plans to suit learners needs and interests and for their better learning.

These are the evidence of writing where I am using mentor text and model writing approaches

Evidence of ākonga work samples giving constructive feedback.

Week 6

Carry out observations of a series of my AT’s report writing lessons to see how she introduces a different topic with learning intention and success criteria
Use my ATs planning to teach some part of the writing lessons this week. Focus on paragraph writing, and modeling while teaching these.
Checking ākonga work to identify needs and strengths for future lessons

Reflection

This week, I have been focusing on my associate teacher's lessons on writing information reports on animals. I observed that she ask students about their favorite animals and plan likewise for delivering the lessons. Since ākonga learned about writing reports, she used the questioning and think-pair-share strategy to elicit their prior knowledge and thinking (Brown, 2004). She allows students to respond and scribe their answers onto the whiteboard (Tompkins et al., 2019). What I found most important is that she printed copies of mentor text (Loane, 2017), for ākonga to look at in their notebooks to support them in developing ideas for writing. I found this very helpful because I used to show my mentor text on the television which sometimes students find difficult to look at. In addition, she writes keywords like title, and the introduction next to the introduction paragraph, followed by writing the keywords body paragraphs and conclusion next to the respective paragraphs. Students also write the same in their notebooks which gives them an understanding of which the title, introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion as components of report writing. I also noticed that she underlines some of the subject-specific vocabulary and students do the same during the process of writing (Batt and Frenchman,2010), I perceived during my lessons, that children find it difficult to in writing specific vocabulary sometimes which is important for the readers

(target audience). I learned this as well and recognized that using strategies as per ākonga helps them with better learning. I used the same strategy and help ākonga during their independent writing after they finish with my AT on the mat. I explain to the target learners to look at model writing to understand the different components of report writing. Also, I allow them to focus on one thing like thinking about the title and start writing an introduction for a lesson while doing the research part and then moving on to the next for the following days' lessons. As part of formative assessment, I continue looking at tamariki work samples and writing feedback on their notebooks for them to understand where they are and what they need to do next for creating their draft reports.

Observations of associate teachers lessons and teaching some of those

Week 7

Carry out observations of a series of my AT’s explanation, and information writing lessons to see how she uses learning intentions and success criteria
Conference with ākonga to support them individually in understanding the structure of an explanation piece, group ideas into paragraphs, summarize the ideas
Done observations in Year 1-2 class writing lessons of how the teacher uses model writing approaches, scribing ākonga ideas

Reflection

This week, I managed to do a couple of observations in the year 1-2 class. I came to understand the difference in terms of behavior management, class routines, schedules, and transitions. With younger ākonga, I believe setting up expectations is the hard one for the kaiako which I found was there in my classroom(Year4-5). I have noticed that in year 1-2 writing lessons kaiako uses the model writing approaches and also scribing ākonga ideas on the whiteboard (Batt & Frencham, 2010). There are only a couple of sentences with different ideas. Students were writing about their favorite desserts and kaiako was using the strategy of asking questions, think-pair-share (Edward-Groves, 2014), to frame the model piece of writing for them. I was supporting in making children understand to use one finger space in between the words and using the sound cards to spell the words. However, I recognized that with the upper-year levels, the writing format is very different and the load is high. In my classroom children were learning about writing reports, narratives, and explanation pieces of writing. They are learning about what is a title, how does an introduction look like, grouping ideas into 2-3 body paragraphs, and summarizing ideas as a conclusion. Therefore, my associate teacher and I always focus on creating the model writing with a proper format to help students in developing their draft writing samples. In addition, focus on each thing for one single lesson to support akonga in indertanding the differnt components for writing.

My class writing lesson lesson on explanation where my AT showing the title, introduction , body paragraphs and conclusion in her model writing .

Observations done of Year1- 2 class writing lessons

Reference List for Weekly Reflections

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Clarke, S (2003). Enriching feedback in the primary classroom. London: Hodder & Stoughton. (pp. 25-44).

Edward-Groves, C. (2014). Talk Moves: A Repertoire of Practices for Productive Classroom Dialogue. Primary English Teaching Association Australia.

Loane, G., & Muir, S. A. (2017). I’ve got something to say: leading young writers to authorship. Aries Pub. Ltd.

TKI. (2000.). Literacy Online.https://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/

(2010). The Literacy Learning Progressions - Literacy Progressions. https://literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/

Tompkins, G.E., Green, D., Smith, C., & Campbell, R. (2019). Literacy for the 21st century: a balanced approach (3rd edition). Pearson Australia.